Brussels, 29/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany announced, on Tuesday 29 May, that they would be expelling the Syrian representatives to the EU from their countries as a protest against the massacre in Houla, which left 108 dead including 49 children. One diplomatic source said “there was a concerted plan between France, Germany and the United Kingdom”. According to a source in Brussels, Spain may join the movement. “The idea (of coordinated action) is being discussed”, a European source said as member state ambassadors were planning to meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation in Syria. Paris will be hosting a meeting of the Friends of Syria early July.
Guy Verhofstadt, who heads the ALDE Group at the European Parliament, welcomed the decision to expel the Syrian ambassadors and called on the EU to follow suit. He said: “This is a step long overdue to isolate the Assad regime. The diplomatic toolbox is now almost empty. EU High Representative Catherine Ashton needs to show EU leadership by expelling the Syrian representative to the European Union and insisting that all EU countries follow suit and send Syrian diplomats home”.
According to the Russian representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, the expulsion of ambassadors will not prove effective. He called for dialogue to be kept up with Syria.
In Syria, UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan called on Bashar al-Assad to take bold measures to put an end to the violence and to release prisoners so that the 6-point peace plan has a chance to work. Al-Assad, however, said the opposition was responsible for the violence and that the success of the plan depends on putting an end to terrorism.
Condemnation of the massacre.
At the weekend, UK Foreign Minister William Hague said that there were no words strong enough to condemn the Houla massacre and called for a powerful international response. Paris denounced the “murderous excess”. EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said she was “appalled” by the “reports of the brutal massacre by the Syrian armed forces in the town of Houla” and condemned “in the strongest terms this heinous act perpetrated by the Syrian regime against its own civilian population”. European Parliament President Martin Schulz condemned this “abhorrent massacre”. “What happened in Houla may well constitute war-crimes. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, there will be no impunity for the regime”, he added. Ashton, like the French and British foreign ministers, spoke to Kofi Annan on the telephone to discuss the situation. The 15 members of the United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the events in Houla.
Chizhov said that he “does not want to criticise the governments” which condemned the regime for what happened, but an investigation was needed and the UN observers were unable to determine who exactly were responsible. “Most probably, both sides are responsible”, he added. He called for pressure to be brought to bear on both the regime and the opposition, stating that the opposition is now more fragmented than ever.
According to a spokesperson for the UN High Commission for Human Rights, most of the victims of the Houla massacre had, according to local people, been executed by pro-regime militia. The spokesperson said that the UN believes that fewer than 20 of the 108 deaths can be attributed to artillery and tank fire. (CG/transl.jl/rt